VILLAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE
Belief in witches--Survival of water ordeal--Witches turned into hares--
Cruelties practised on witches--Bishop Jewel on the "evil eye"--
Fairies--Berkshire popular superstitions--Field-names--Homes of famous
men--Washington Irving's description of an English village--Rural
exodus--Conclusion.
There is yet another class of subjects connected with old village life,
of absorbing interest and importance. I refer to the old superstitions
and folklore which still linger on in the recollections of the "oldest
inhabitant," and which ought to be at once treasured up, lest they
should be altogether lost. The generation of those who believed firmly
in the power of the "evil eye" of the witch, and who feared to disturb
the revels of the fairies on their rings and mounds, is only just
passing away. An old gipsy has told me some strange stories of the
superstitions of former days. He has told me of the witch at Farnham
who made the cows wild and prevented them from giving milk; of another
witch who lived at Henley-on-Thames, and who when thrown into the river
"floated like a cork." Here we have a survival of the old Saxon method
of trying culprits by the water ordeal, often used in examining
witches. This particular witch could turn herself into a hare, so my
venerable gipsy friend, aged one hundred and six years, informed me,
and the dogs hunted her. He told me of the Tadley witch, who "wished"
several people, and greatly injured them. It seems to have been a
common practice of the old witches to turn themselves into hares, in
order to vex the squires, justices, and country parsons, who were fond
of hunting, as the old dames could elude the speed of the swiftest
dogs. An old writer states "that never hunters nor their dogs may be
bewitched, they cleave an oaken branch, and both they and their dogs
pass over it." Mary Dore, a witch of Beaulieu, Hampshire, used to turn
herself into a hare in order to escape detection when caught in the act
of wood-stealing, to which she was somewhat addicted.
Old women were rather harshly used in the days when people believed in
the power of witches. If any farmer's cattle died, it was immediately
concluded that the animals were bewitched; and some wretched old woman
was singled out, and summarily tried and burnt. If anyone fell ill,
some "witch" had evidently a waxen image of the sufferer, and stuck
needles into it; and such was the power of the witch that, wherever the
person was, he felt the stab of the cruel needle. Hence the witch had
to be found and burnt. If the corn crops failed, was not witchcraft the
cause? for had not old Mother Maggs been heard to threaten Farmer
Giles, and had not her black cat been seen running over his fields?
Even good Bishop Jewel did not disbelieve in the power of the evil eye.
In preaching before Queen Elizabeth he said: "It may please Your Grace
to understand that witches and sorcerers are marvellously increased
within Your Grace's realm. Your Grace's subjects pine away even unto
the death, their colour fadeth, their flesh rotteth, their speech is
benumbed, their senses are bereft. I pray God they never practise
further than on the subject." To so great an extent did faith in the
witches' fatal power prevail. Our forefathers used to believe in the
existence of other, and more pleasant little companions than the old
toothless witches--the bright little fairies who, on account of the
neglect which they have received from the present generation of
Englishmen, have, so it is reported, left our shores in disgust, never
to return. The previous inhabitants of our villages did not so treat
them; and did not the fairies always bring them luck? They nailed the
horseshoe to the stable door to keep out the witches, lest the old
beldams should ride their steeds by night to the witches' revels; but
no one wished to exclude the fairies. Did not the dairymaids find the
butter ready churned, and the cows milked by these kind assistants? Was
there not an old lady in Yorkshire who knew all about the fairies, had
often heard them making butter, and had seen the butter smeared all
over the gate by a little green man with a queer cap who had been seen
slipping under a culvert? Canon Atkinson told us of this lady who knew
all these strange things, and of the Hart Hall "Hob" who worked so hard
with his flail, and of many other curious folk who frequented the
Yorkshire moors in olden days. The last witch had just died before he
went to Danby, but he found the whole atmosphere of the folklore
firmament so surcharged with the being and work of the witch, that he
seemed able to trace her presence and her activity in almost every nook
and corner of the neighbourhood.
The wells all over England were haunted by fairies, and is it not
confidently asserted that "the good people" (as the fairies are called)
live in wilds and forests, and shun great cities because of the
wickedness which exists therein? Have they never appeared to the lonely
traveller, clothed in green, with long hair floating over their
shoulders, and with faces more blooming than the blush of a summer
morning? Then there were the fairy rings formed by the dancing of their
merry feet.
"Some say the screech-owl, at each midnight hour,
Awakes the fairies in yon ancient tower.
Their nightly dancing ring I always dread,
Nor let my sheep within that circle tread;
When round and round all night, in moonlight fair,
They dance to some strange music in the air."
Then there were brownies; and knockers, who worked in mines, and showed
rich veins of silver; and elves--all of whom were included in old
village superstitions, and many were the tales told of the good deeds
they did, and the luck they brought. Nor must we forget the story of
the invisible smith who inhabited Wayland Smith's Cave, in Berkshire.
Whenever a farmer tied up his horse in the cave, and left the money on
a particular stone, on his return he found his horse shod by the kind
efforts of the invisible smith. There is also the old Berkshire story
of the old witch who lived in a cave by the roadside, and who, by the
power of her "evil eye," could stop the strongest team of horses, so
that, however much the carters lashed and swore at them, the animals
would not budge an inch until she permitted them to go. Here are a few
of the common superstitions current in Berkshire. If a corpse be kept
over a Sunday another death will occur before the week is out; should a
big bumble-bee enter the window, a guest may be expected; and when the
woodpecker, commonly called the yaffle, laughs, they say the rain is
coming. When the thick mist lies in the valley, the people say it is
the White Lady, a belief closely akin to the Dame Blanche, who is said
in Normandy to haunt streams. If one row of freshly sown seeds or
potatoes does not come up, it foretells a death in the family. If a
girl mends her clothes on her back, she risks having a drunken husband.
A screech-owl is unlucky, and so also is it if a bird fly against the
window.
A woman came to the rectory a few years ago for a drop of sacramental
wine, which she wanted for an infant who had "the graspings." This
complaint I discovered to be a craving for something, accompanied by
restlessness; and it was supposed that a drop of sacramental wine would
cure an infant so troubled. If the mother before the child was born
craved for drink, this craving was communicated to the child, and could
only be remedied by a drop of wine used in Holy Communion. This
superstition, which I have met with elsewhere, probably is a relic of
pre-Reformation days, and of sacramental Reservation.
A tramp was passing through a Hampshire village a short time ago, and
calling at a house, begged for a glass of water. The woman who lived
there said that she was sorry she could not give him water to drink, as
there was a child in the house unbaptised, and therefore it would be
unlucky. The origin of this superstition it is difficult to trace.
These are some of the legends and superstitions which linger amongst
us. Every neighbourhood has its stories, its legends, and romantic
histories. It is a sad pity that these should pass away without any
record being made. Many curious customs and ceremonies relating to
christenings, marriages, and burials linger in remote hamlets; and
charms, curious remedies, and other relics of the quaint superstitions
of our forefathers, are full of interest to the lover of our English
villages.
As we walk in the fields, or study the old map of the parish, the names
of the fields invite our attention. These are full of interest, and
often tell us about matters which would be entirely forgotten. Some
names tell us of the great forests which used to exist all over the
country, when kings and noblemen, outlaws and poachers, used to hunt
the deer and the wild boars in many a successful run. These forests
were large tracts of country in its natural state, partly wood, partly
heather and grass, which were owned by the king, and were especially
brought under the harsh forest laws of the Norman sovereigns.
Some of our field-names remind us of the existence of these old forests
where corn now grows, and also of swamps and islands where everything
now is dry and far removed from water. Sometimes they tell us of the
old common lands which used to be farmed by the villeins and borderers,
and of the strange way in which they used to manage their farming. Each
man used to keep one or more oxen for the village plough until they
made up the team into eight; then they ploughed the land in strips of
an acre or half-acre each, divided by a bit of unploughed turf called
a balk. Each strip was a furlong, _i.e._ a "furrow long," _i.e._ the
length of the drive of a plough before it is turned. This was forty
rods, or poles, and four of these furrows made up the acre. These
pieces of land were called "shots," and there were "headlands," or
common field-ways, to each shot; and "gored acres," which were corners
of the fields which could not be cut up into strips, and odds and ends
of unused land, which were called "No Man's Land," or "Jack's Land." It
is curious, too, that all the strips belonging to one man did not lie
together, but were scattered all over the common land, which must have
been a very inconvenient arrangement for farming purposes. There were
also in each village community a blacksmith, whose duty it was to keep
in repair the ironwork of the village ploughs, a carpenter for the
woodwork, and a pound-keeper, or punder, who looked after the stray
cattle. Many of the "balks" still remain on the hillsides where these
old common lands existed, and the names of the fields bear witness to
the prevalence of this old field system.
They tell us, too, of the way in which attempts were made to force the
growth of particular crops, and in many parishes you will find a "flax
piece," which reminds us of a foolish Act of Henry VIII. ordering the
cultivation of that plant. Metals, too, which have long ago been
worked out, and trades which no longer exist, have left their traces
behind in the names of our lanes and fields. Also they speak of the
early days when the wolf or the bear might be seen in our woods or
fields, or of the beaver which loved the quietude of our streams, of
the eagle which carried off the lambs undisturbed by sound of the
keeper's gun. Sometimes he was disturbed in his thefts by the flight
of a good strong English arrow, which came from a sturdy English bow
drawn by a good strong English arm. The English archers were famous
everywhere, and many a battle has been won by their valour and their
skill. A law was passed in the reign of Edward IV. that every
Englishman should have a bow of his own height, and that butts for the
practice of archery should be set up in every village; and every man
was obliged to shoot up and down on every feast-day, or be fined one
halfpenny. Consequently, in some villages we find a field called "The
Butts," where this old practice took place.[11]
Many villages are associated with the lives of distinguished
men--authors, soldiers, and statesmen. Perhaps your village may have
bred other poets besides "the mute inglorious Milton" of Gray's
_Elegy_. Not far from where I am writing was Pope's early home, the
village of Binfield, which he calls--
"My paternal home,
A little house, with trees arow,
And, like its master, very low."
On the other side lies the village of Three Mile Cross, where Miss
Mitford lived and wrote "Our Village"; and Arborfield, called in her
book Arborleigh, about which she tells some pleasant stories, is the
adjoining parish. Sometimes, as I ride down a grassy lane, a favourite
haunt of the distinguished authoress, I seem to see her seated on a
fallen tree weaving her pretty romances, while her favourite dog, which
she often describes, plays and barks around her. A few miles in another
direction lies Eversley, the loved abode of Charles Kingsley, about
whom many stories linger in the countryside. To visit the uncomfortable
brick-paved study where he wrote, the garden where he used to pace and
think out his great thoughts, is delightfully refreshing and
invigorating to a jaded writer.
[Illustration: OLD COTTAGES]
These are only instances of places which have become interesting on
account of the famous men who once lived in them; and England has many
heroes of the sword and pen whose lives each Englishman should study;
and when you visit their dwelling-places you will recall their
achievements, and perhaps endeavour to imitate their examples. Here is
an instance of how little the villagers know of the distinguished men
who once lived amongst them. The great Duke of Wellington did not live
a very long time ago, and yet some friends of mine who were staying at
Strathfieldsaye, near the Iron Duke's house, and made inquiries amongst
the villagers about their recollections of the hero of Waterloo, could
obtain no information. At last one venerable rustic vouchsafed the
extraordinary intelligence, "I believe as 'ow 'e were very good at
war"! What a thing it is to be famous!
Much more remains to be said upon the various subjects which this
history of our village suggests. But the day is closing, and our walk
through its sequestered lanes and our thoughts about the various scenes
which yonder venerable oaks have witnessed, must cease. But enough has
been said to show what a wealth of interest lies beneath the calm
exterior of ordinary village life. An American truly observes that
everything in the rural life of England is associated with ideas of
order, of quiet, sober, well-established principles, of hoary usage,
and reverent custom--the growth of ages of regular and peaceful
existence. The impression which the appearance of an English village
left on his mind is beautifully described in the following passage:--
"The old church of remote architecture with its low, massive portal,
its gothic tower, its windows rich with tracery and painted glass,
its scrupulous preservation, its stately monuments of warriors and
worthies of olden times, ancestors of the present lords of the soil;
its tombstones, recording successive generations of sturdy yeomanry,
whose progeny still plough the same fields, and kneel at the same
altar; the parsonage, a quaint, irregular pile, partly antiquated,
but repaired and altered in the tastes of various eyes and occupants;
the stile and footpath leading from the churchyard, across pleasant
fields, and along shady hedgerows, according to an immemorial
right-of-way; the neighbouring village, with its venerable cottages,
its public green sheltered by trees, under which the forefathers of
the present race have sported; the antique family mansion, standing
apart in some little rural domain, but looking down with a protecting
air on the surrounding scene. All these common features of English
landscape evince a calm and settled security, and hereditary
transmission of homebred virtues and local attachments, that speak
deeply and touchingly for the moral character of the nation."
One of the most distressing features of modern village life is the
continual decrease of its population. All our young men flock to the
towns, attracted by the greater excitement which town life offers, as
compared with the more homely pleasures of the country. The rural
exodus is an alarming and very real danger to the welfare of social
England. Agricultural machinery has greatly diminished the number of
labourers required on a farm. Agricultural depression and the decreased
value of land have caused many old country families to close their old
manor-houses, as they cannot afford to live on their estates.
Let us hope that those whose happy lot it is to live in the quiet
hamlets of our native land, afar from the noise and din of busy towns,
will learn to love more deeply their village homes, and interest
themselves in their surroundings. To those who read the history of
their native place, each house and field, each stone and tree, will
tell its story, and recount the wonders it has witnessed. And as the
stories of wars and fights, of superstition and of crime, fall on our
ears, we shall be thankful that our lot is cast in more peaceful days,
when no persecutions, religious or political, disturb the tranquillity
of our village life. And when we read of the piety and simplicity of
our forefathers, their veneration of their church, their love of home,
their innocent joys and social customs, we should strive to imitate
their virtues which have materially helped to make England a great and
powerful nation. It is hoped that these chapters upon the old life of
our country, and the manners and customs of our forefathers, may induce
many of my readers to read and study history more deeply, may serve to
create an interest in the relics that remain to us of the past, and to
preserve the fleeting traditions that Time doth consecrate.
[11] In many cases the name "Butts" refers to the fact of the land,
under the common-field system, _abutting_ on meadows or roads, _e.g._
"Butt-close," in the parish of St. Mary Bourne.
APPENDIX
BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO PAROCHIAL HISTORY
To anyone who sets himself the task of writing a history of his village,
the following notes may be useful. With regard to the etymology of the
name, concerning which absurd errors are made in most guide books and
old county histories, it would be well to consult Canon Taylor's _Words
and Places_, being careful to study the earliest form of the word in
_Domesday_ and old documents. Bede's _History_, the _Anglo-Saxon
Chronicles_, and other old English chronicles, published by Bohn, may
contain some allusions to the parish and neighbourhood, and also
Kemble's _Saxons in England_. The _Domesday Book_ is, of course, a mine
of wealth. The Public Record Office contains many documents which will
be of great service--the _Testa de Neville_ (Edward II.), _Marshall
Rolls, Nonarum Inquisitiones, Pipe Rolls, Patent Rolls, Close Rolls,
Hundred Rolls, Inquisitiones post-mortem_, and the _Feet of Fines_. The
_Manor Court Rolls_, if they still exist, in the custody of the lord of
the manor, should also be consulted. The journals of local antiquarian
societies and county histories will of course be examined. The history
of the families connected with the parish must be traced. The British
Museum and the College of Arms contain fine collections of _Heralds'
Visitations_, and Burke's _Landed Gentry_ and Dugdale's _Baronage_
are the chief sources of information. Old _wills_ will yield much
information, many of which are in course of publication by the Index
Society, and county archaeolgical journals; and Somerset House and many
diocesan registries contain the original documents. The Historical
Manuscripts Commission has published many volumes of borough records
which are of great service, and the lives of any great men connected
with the parish may be studied in the _Dictionary of National
Biography_. As we have already pointed out, the parish chest contains
valuable sources of information upon the history of the village, and
its contents should be carefully examined.
The registers of the diocese contain many documents relating to the
ecclesiastical history of the parish, and from them we can obtain a
list of the rectors or vicars. If the church was connected with any
monastery, Dugdale's _Monasticon_ will furnish some information. The
Public Record Office contains the documents _Taxatio Ecclesiastica P.
Nicholai IV._ and _Valor Ecclesiasticus_, which give an account of the
value of the first-fruits and tenths, and also some volumes on the sale
of chantries, and the inventories of church goods. The name of the saint
to whom the church is dedicated must not always be accepted, in spite of
years of usage, and should be confirmed by reference to some early will
of a chief person of the village buried in the church, which usually
gives the name of the patron saint. The story of the church writ in
stone should be traced by the various styles of architecture, with the
help of Rickman's _Gothic Architecture_ or Parker's _Glossary of Gothic
Architecture_. If there has ever been a monastery in the parish,
Dugdale's _Monasticon_ should be consulted; and if there are any remains
of a castle, Clark's _Mediaeval Military Architecture in England_ will
be useful. Prehistoric remains, such as barrows, earthworks, pit
dwellings, and caves should be described; also any Roman roads and
villas; the flora and fauna of the neighbourhood, geology, folklore,
and dialect.
The following books are recommended:--
Evans' _Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain_.
Evans' _ Ancient Bronze Implements_.
Boyd Dawkins' _Cave Hunting_.
Boyd Dawkins' _Early Man in Britain_.
Greenwell's _British Barrows_.
Fergusson's _Rude Stone Monuments_.
Cox's _How to Write the History of a Parish_.
Wright's _Essays on Archaeological Subjects_.
Parker's _Mediaeval Domestic Architecture_.
Sims' _Manual for the Topographer and Genealogist_.
Burn's _History of Parish Registers_.
Seebohm's _English Village Community_.
Toulmin Smith's _English Gilds_.
Haine's _Manual of Monumental Brasses_.
Bloxam's _Principles of Gothic Architecture_.
Tanner's _Notitia Monastica_.
Cutts' _Middle Ages_.
Lee's _Glossary of Liturgical and Ecclesiastical Terms_.
INDEX
Akeman Street, 60
Aldhelm, church-builder, 103
Alfriston clergy-house, 180
_Alignements_, 46
Allington rectory, 180
Almshouses, 181
Altars, 191
Amphitheatre, Roman, 67
Anchoresses, 183
Anchor-hold, 183
Anglo-Saxon villages, 74-89
Archery, 277, 298
Architecture, English, 102-24
Arresting a dead body, 227
Arrow-heads, 20
_Art of Husbandry_, 255
Astrology, belief in, 222
Aumbry, 192
Avebury cromlech, 46
B
Ball-flower moulding, 118
Barkham in _Domesday_, 128
Barnack Church, 106
Barrows or tumuli, 23-3
" long and round, 25
" near churchyards, 23
" Saxon, 90-3
" their contents, 24, 29
Basilica, Roman, 66
Beacons, 268
Beating the bounds, 276
Bede, 75
Bell-ringing customs, 250
Bells, 245-53
" christening of, 246
" inscription on, 247-50
Benedict Biscop, 103
Benedictine monks, 161
Bewcastle cross, 98
Bishops, treating of, 229
Black Death, 255
Blood-letting, 167-9
Blowing Stone, 52
_Bordarii_, 131
Border castles, 140
Brachycephalic race, 21
Brasses, monumental, 212-18
Bridal cup, 207
Brief Book, 226
Brighthampton, pit dwellings at, 33
British Church, 93
" oppida, 34
" roads, 60, 61
" saints and martyrs, 94
Bronze Age, 21, 40
Budworth hermitage, 182
Burial urns, 29, 30
" urns in woollen, 220
C
Caesar's camps, 50
Camps, 50-52
Carthusian monks, 162
Castles, 135-53
Cave men, 16
Celts, 21, 34, 37, 56
Cemeteries, Saxon, 92
Censers, 205
Chancels, 190
Charles II., adventures of, 267
Chaucer's satire on monks, 160
Chepstow Castle, 140
Chest, parish, 218-29
Chivalry, 143, 148
Chrismatory, 206
Christmas in olden time, 278
Chun Castle, 51
Church ales, 258
Church bells, 245-53
" house, 258
" plate, 200-8
" yard, 243
Churches, parish, 184 99
Churchwardens' account books, 223-6
Cistercian monks, 114, 161
Civil War, effects of, 153, 220, 265
Cloister of monastery, 163
Cluny, monks of, 161
Consecration crosses, 239
Conversion of Saxons, 94, 95
Crannogs, 38
Cremation, 28, 29, 92
Cromlechs, 46-9
Crosses, Saxon, 95-101
Cross-legged effigies, 211
Cucking-stool, 280
D
Decay of old sports, 271
Decorated architecture, 117
Desecration of monasteries, 159
Devil's Highway, 61
Dog-tooth ornament, 116
Dog-whipper, 228
Dolichocephalic race, 19
Dolmen, 49, 50
_Domesday Book_, 125-34
Donnington Castle, 152
Druids, 48, 50
E
Early English architecture, 115-17
Earthworks, 50-6
Easter sepulchre, 193
Edge Hill, battle of, 264
Edwardian castles, 140
Emblems on brasses, 217
Enstone, menhir at, 45
Eslithic man, 14
Epitaphs, curious, 243
Ermyn Street, 60
"Evil eye," 291-3
F
Fairford windows, 232
Fairies, 56, 293
Fairs, 261
Feudalism, 141
Field-names, 296-8
Flint implements, discovery of, 11
Flint implements, 15, 20
Fonts, 186
Food in barrows, 24, 25
Football, 277
Force-pump, Roman, 68
Frescoes, 234
Friars, preaching, 161
Future life, belief in, shown by barrows, 24
G
Gambassi, glass-painter, 232
_Geburs_, 82
Gentleman, accomplishments of a, 149
Geological changes, 11-13
Glaciers in Britain, 12
Glass, stained, 230-3
Glastonbury, pit dwellings at, 37, 41, 42
Green, village, 8, 280
Grims-dike, 54, 55
Grosmont Castle, 141
Guizot on castles, 141
H
Hagioscopes, 194
Hall marks, 208
Harvest homes, 275
Hastings, battle of, 264
Heart burial, 222
Hedsor, pile dwellings at, 37, 38
_Hereivard the Wake_, 264
Hermits, 181
Hexham church, 104
" crosses, 99
Highwaymen, 283
Hocktide sports, 225, 273
Homes of famous men, 298
Hospitium of monastery, 169
House, evolution of country, 172-7
Hundreds, origin of, 87
Hurstbourne, Hants, pit dwellings at, 34
I
Ice Age, 12, 13
Iknield Street, 60
Ilkley cross, 99
Inigo Jones, 176
Inns, 7, 282-90
Inventories, 201
Iron Age, 21
" work in churches, 233
_Itinerary_ of Antoninus, 59
J
Jervais, glass-painter, 232
Johnson, Dr., on monasteries, 159
K
Keep of Norman castle, 137
Kelvedon rectory, 179
Kenilworth Castle, 151
King's evil, 228
Knaresborough hermitage, 182
Knighthood, admission to, 145
L
Laindon reclusorium, 183
Lammas lands, 79
Lecterns, 191
Legends, 44, 55, 263
"Lepers' windows," 195
Lich-gate, 242
Local Government, 254
Low side windows, 195
M
Manor-house, 172-7
Manors, 79, 133
Man-traps, 289
Markets, 260
May Day, 225, 273
Mediaeval village, 254-70
Menhir, 45
"Merry England," 256
Milestones, Roman, 61
Miracle plays, 274
_Misereres_, 191
Monasteries, Saxon, 102
" 154-71
" charity of, 159
Monastic day, 166, 167
" inns, 282
Monks, benefits conferred by, 155
" corruption of, 160
Monstrances, 206
Monumental effigies, 209-12
Mothering Sunday, 273
Mouldings, Decorated, 118, 120
" Early English, 116
" Norman, 112
" Perpendicular, 123
Mural paintings, 234-41
N
Neolithic man, 15, 18, 20, 37
Norman architecture, 109-15
" castles, 135-53
" place-names, 132
" villages, 125-34
Normans, coming of, 125
O
Ockwells manor-house, 173
Ogee arch, 118
Organised condition of society among prehistoric races, 31
Ornaments, Saxon, 91
_Osculatorium_, 192
Oxford, poor scholar of, 229
P
Pageants, 149-52
Paleolithic man, 14
Palimpsests, 213
Parish chest, 218-29
" registers, 218-23
Paschall money, 225
Pastimes, 271-81
Pavements, Roman, 71, 72
Pax, 192, 206
Perpendicular architecture, 120
Pews, 187
_Piers Ploughman_, 165, 174, 181
Pile dwellings, 37-43
Pilgrimages, 259
Piscina, 192
Pit dwellings, 33-7
Place-names, 76, 101
Plague, 255-7
Plate, church, 200-8
" " in bishop's coffin, 202
Ploughman's lament, 84
Plough Monday, 272
Porch, 185
"Pot-boilers," 36
Pre-Reformation plate, 202-5
Pulpits, 188
Pytheas of Marseilles, 10
Pyx, 191, 206
Q
Quintain, 277
R
Raglan Castle, 141
Reading Abbey, 171
Reading-pews, 197
Reclusorium, 183
" at Rettenden, 183
Rectories, 177-81
Registers, parish, 218-23
Religion of Saxons, 93
"Restoration," 199
Rollright Stones, 46, 47
Roman relics, 57-73
" rig, 54
" roads, 58-62
" villas, 70-3
Rood-loft, 188
Royal arms in churches, 190
Rural exodus, 300
Rush-bearing, 276
Ruthwell cross, 97
Ryknield Street, 60
S
Sacring bell, 252
St. Christopher, 238
Salisbury Cathedral, 115
Saltways, 61
Sanctus bell, 252
Saxon architecture, 106-9
" house, 172
" monasteries, 102
" place-names, 76, 77
" relics, 90-101
Saxons, coming of, 74, 75
Screens, 189
Secret chambers, 177
Settle, Victoria Cave at, 17
Shires, origin of, 88
Shrovetide sports, 273
Signs of inns, 284-8
Silchester, 54, 62-70
Slavery under Saxons, 84
Sluggard waker, 228
Smoke farthings, 226
_Socmen_, 83, 131
Spenser's description of hermitage, 182
Sports and pastimes, 271-81
Stocks, 280
Stonehenge, 46
Stone monuments, 44-50
Stourbridge Fair, 261
Sudeley Castle, pageant at, 149-51
Sun-worship, relics of, 27
Superstitions, 44, 295
Switzerland, pile dwellings in, 38-41
T
"Terraces," 19
_Tesserae_, 65, 71
Thanes, 80
Thane's house, 81
Thuribles, 205
Tiles, 233
Tournaments, 146-9
Tudor arch, 121
" houses, 175
Tumuli, _see_ Barrows
Turf monuments, 53, 54
Twelfth Night, 272
Tympana, Norman, 110
U
Uffington, 52-4
Ufton Court, Berks, 176, 178
V
Vernicle, 201
Vestry, contents of, 196
Vicarages, 177-81
Villas, Roman, 70-3
Villeins, 130, 255
W
Wars, 262-70
Watling Street, 60
Wayland Smith's Cave, 27, 294
Whalley cross, 96
" reclusorium, 184
White Castle, 141
White Horse Hill, 53
Whittenham Clumps, 52
Wilfrid, St., 96, 104, 108, 230
Witches, 291
" turned into hares, 292
Woollen, burials in, 220
Worlebury, pit dwellings at, 34
Y
Yeomen, 83, 131
Yew tree in churchyard, 241